Willingness to compete:
Many experimental studies had already shown that some people are strongly attracted to competitive environments while others are averse to them, essentially being willing to leave money on the table to avoid competing. We took this literature out of the lab by developing new ways of measuring willingness to compete in large-scale survey panels. We show that willingness to compete is a strong and consistent predictor of income, occupation, completed level of education and field of study in representative survey data. For most outcomes, the predictive power of competitiveness exceeds that of other skills and personality traits. Differences in competitiveness between women and men explain 5-10 percent of gender differences in education and labor market outcomes.
Public speaking aversion:
Studies in psychology have robustly shown that fear of public speaking is extremely common, but we knew little about the economic implications for individuals and organizations. Using lab and classroom experiments, we show that preferences for speaking in public vary strongly across individuals, with many participants willing to give up significant amounts of money to avoid giving a short presentation in front of an audience. We used the experimental data to validate self-reported survey items to elicit public speaking aversion in large-scale surveys. In a survey of business and economics students, we show that public speaking aversion predicts career expectations: public speaking averse individuals avoid careers in management consulting and are more attracted to data analyst and back-office careers. We also elicited our public speaking aversion measures in a large survey panel that is representative of the Dutch population. In future research, we will use this data to document the correlation between public speaking preferences and career outcomes, and compare the strength of this relationship to that of other influential skills and personality traits.
Willingness to work under time pressure:
Many professional and educational settings require people to work under time pressure. People who are averse to this might choose a more relaxed but less lucrative career path. In a lab experiment, we measured how much extra payment participants would need to complete a cognitive task under varying levels of time pressure rather than with no pressure. We show that participants generally dislike working under time pressure but that there is substantial variation in this dislike across individuals. Simple survey questions can capture much of this variation. In our survey data covering bachelor students and the general Dutch population, individual differences in time-pressure aversion strongly predict career choices and labor market success.
Ability and willingness to multitask:
Many modern careers and work environments are characterized by the need to multitask due to constant interruptions and the need to juggle between several concurrent tasks. The ability and willingness to do so – as well as the ability to block out distractions and concentrate on core tasks in general – might be crucial for success in high-pressure, high-reward careers. Using an incentivized lab experiment, we studied the effects of distractions on performance and mental well-being, elicited willingness to pay to avoid distractions, and validated questionnaire items on resilience to distractions. We obtained four main results. First, distractions and multitasking are detrimental for people’s mental well-being. Second, many people are willing to pay to eliminate distractions. Third, individual differences in the impact of distractions on mental wellbeing can be captured by questionnaire items. And fourth, resilience to distractions strongly predicts income and job satisfaction in representative survey data.
